Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 438 posts

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#161

Post by djm »

ErrantX wrote: post #66

Build a house; specifically a wood/earth "natural house" and fit it out to be self sufficient (for monetary rather than eco reasons :)). Current road blocks: finding time to build, finding a site without NIMBY neighbours, planning permission (grrr)

I'm interested in this too and also for monetary reasons rather than the eco thing.

Mostly what I've looked at so far are cob/straw houses. With these you are basically looking at a rubble/concrete base (which you can hopefully scavenge for free), clay/straw/sand for making the cob, and wood for the roof/window/doorframes etc. The best budget option for a roof seems to be turf, although that cuts down on the amount of rain water you could collect if you wanted to independant from a water company.

The biggest obstacle in the UK seems to be finding suitable land and getting planning permission etc. I don't really know any solution to that.

Over the past few weeks I've been reading 'building with cob: a step by step guide" which covers both the technical and legal aspects of building one of these structures in the UK. It's a great book.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#162

Post by ganley »

pchristensen wrote: post #124
abstractbill wrote: post #110

I'm trying to figure out: (1) how much time a newborn will actually demand from me and my wife, and (2) how we will fit in all the things we have decided must continue to happen (e.g. me still having a fulltime job, both of us getting regular exercise and a bit of downtime, etc).

Congrats! Here's the advice of a father of two: 1) Less and more than you think. Bank on at least one to two hours out of every four (that's about their sleep-wake cycle for the first couple months). Very little of it is hard if they're not sick, but the cycle is relentless. 2) Babies are very portable for the first 6 months or so b/c they're so oblivious to the world. Wake-up, change them, feed them, interact for a…

Huh. My answer (as a father of 3) to how much time they'll consume would, only slightly facetiously, be "all of it."

Your math about sleep cycles is way wrong, and the idea that you'll still have half the free time you used to is laughable. Assuming a more or less 'normal' work schedule, most of the time they're sleeping, this guy will either be at work or will be sleeping himself.

My advice is to assume that for a few years you're going to have very little downtime unless you don't sleep much or don't feel the need to see your wife much.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#163

Post by donw »

gauthr wrote: post #158
donw wrote: post #149

Fluent in Japanese. Roadblock: Day has 24 hours. Need 27. I blew past the JLPT 2 last year, so this year it's just a matter of finding the time to work on it every day. Would list my marathon training, but that's too popular as-is. ;p Farthest run has been ten miles so far; I'll get there...

It's time to move to Japan, if you don't live there already. It's the closest you'll get to studying 27 hours a day, and the only sure path to fluency, given the level you're at.

I'm writing this from my tiny apartment in Saitama. :)

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#164

Post by Random_Person »

lkozma wrote: post #74

Learn every juggling trick I have seen, heared of or imagined. Roadblock: balls keep falling. EDIT: current status (as of yesterday): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lsuO0tQZaU

Awesome stuff. I have been juggling for years (self-taught) and it is all about practice practice practice. Also, having a juggling partner is an awesome thing. Just being able to work out the details of a trick and visualize them with another person is a vast improvement upon self-study.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#165

Post by thaumaturgy »

WesleyJohnson wrote: post #65

I suppose the most interesting goal, to me, is getting my teeth fixed. I didn't take care of them all through my twenties and it's had serious repercussions on my social and professional life as well as taking a drastic toll on my confidence. Roadblocks and/or bottlenecks are easy: finances. Dental work isn't cheap, especially when you're looking at as much work as I need done. The "fear" of the dentist was also an i…

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/related/ch1qn/ive_had_all_my_te...

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#166

Post by ErrantX »

djm wrote: post #161
ErrantX wrote: post #66

Build a house; specifically a wood/earth "natural house" and fit it out to be self sufficient (for monetary rather than eco reasons :)). Current road blocks: finding time to build, finding a site without NIMBY neighbours, planning permission (grrr)

I'm interested in this too and also for monetary reasons rather than the eco thing. Mostly what I've looked at so far are cob/straw houses. With these you are basically looking at a rubble/concrete base (which you can hopefully scavenge for free), clay/straw/sand for making the cob, and wood for the roof/window/doorframes etc. The best budget option for a roof seems to be turf, although that cuts down on the amount o…

I know this is self promotion :) but I recently blogged about my reasons for wanting to do this here: http://www.errant.me.uk/blog/2010/07/why-i-want-an-eco-house...

The best budget option for a roof seems to be turf

What I have in mind is something of a sunken/earthworks house - so yes, turf roof which I would try and double as a grass terrace etc. cob/straw looks like a useful material from my research too - coupled with the sunken aspect for insulation reasons.

The biggest obstacle in the UK seems to be finding suitable land and getting planning permission etc. I don't really know any solution to that.

Most of the "first generation" examples I have seen build first and sort planning later. But there are newer projects that have applied successfully - and that is the route I prefer.

I think planners are becoming more open to self sustained housing, thankfully :)

Thanks for the book recommendation! I will track it down from Amazon.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#167

Post by tocomment »

ErrantX wrote: post #66

Build a house; specifically a wood/earth "natural house" and fit it out to be self sufficient (for monetary rather than eco reasons :)). Current road blocks: finding time to build, finding a site without NIMBY neighbours, planning permission (grrr)

Where do you buy the land? How do you find it? What do you look for in land? How do you even start to do something like this?

I'd love to do this too but I'm overwhelmed by thousands of questions.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#169

Post by whatusername »

thestoicattack wrote: post #152
mattheww wrote: post #115

I want to start a company that builds solar panels in space. Roadblocks (the ones I think are the biggest anyway): Supply Chain. Probably going to first need a way to or supplier who can mine and process materials from somewhere other than Earth. Infrastructure. Definitely going to need some sort of factory in space in which this operation can be done. Knowledge. I don't know anything about manufacturing in space. Th…

Has anybody every done (non-fictional) mining somewhere other than Earth?

The Apollo missions picked up some moon rocks. That's kind of close.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#170

Post by Poleris »

I really like the concept behind this Ask HN, especially the "help someone else in the thread with their goals." I'll definitely try.

Goal: Launch a non-profit student apprenticeship program in partnership with a few corporations.

Roadblock #1: While doing my 9-7 job.

Roadblock #2: A few of my web applications are finally reaching the "need to incorporate" stage. Have very little clue about law and accounting.

Roadblock #3: Have some of the clients/partnerships down, but getting the right students and professionals involved is difficult.

Post reply on HN